Image Courtesy:ndtv.com
Festivals of different faiths falling together are often seen to be an occasion to encourage communal harmony. However, as recorded in recent times, it has often resulted in communal clashes, the after effects of which are felt long after the day itself has passed.
The situation is reportedly still tense in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur, which is also the hometown of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, following communal clashes on Eid. According to a report in NDTV, the police have so far arrested 52 people after the clashes. Around 45 others have also been detained in connection with the violence, and curfew remains in place in Jodhpur’s Udai Mandir, Nagori Gate and some other areas, stated the news report, adding that “internet remains suspended to stop the spread of rumours.” A three-day Parshuram Jayanti festival was in progress in Jodhpur when the clashes happened.
The confrontation reportedly erupted when a group allegedly hoisted “Eid flags” on the Jalori gate circle, on Monday night. Stones were then pelted and many were injured including five policemen. The crowds were dispersed by the police using “tear gas and batons”, stated news reports.
According to a report in the Indian Express, curfew was imposed in 10 police station areas of Jodhpur. After the two communities clashed late Monday night over the “hoisting of an Eid flag over the statue of a freedom fighter”, police told the media that on Tuesday morning, fresh clashes erupted between police and members of the Muslim community.
As Jodhpur is also the hometown of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the area where the violence happened in Sardarpura, his Assembly constituency of Gehlot, the Opposition has directed all criticism towards him. Senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have accused Gehlot of former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, slammed Gehlot and said the violence was the result of his “politics of appeasement”.
स्वतंत्रता सेनानी स्व. बाल मुकंद बिस्सा जी की प्रतिमा पर लगे भगवा झंडे को उतारने की घटना से यह स्पष्ट हो जाता है कि प्रदेश में फैला यह मजहबी उन्माद कांग्रेस सरकार की तुष्टिकरण संस्कृति का ही परिणाम है।
सरकार चेते और तुष्टिकरण की नीति से बाज आए।
(2/2)#Rajasthan— Vasundhara Raje (@VasundharaBJP) May 3, 2022
According to the IE, police have said that “the immediate trigger for the clash had to do with the hoisting of a flag on Eid on the statue of freedom fighter Balmukund Bissa near Jalori Gate in Jodhpur.” Vandita Rana, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Jodhpur West, was quoted saying, “Preliminary investigation suggests that the reason for the escalation of tensions resulted from one community hoisting an Eid flag over the statue of a freedom fighter.” The DCP added, “There was a clash between police and people who had offered namaz on Tuesday morning. The people who had come to offer namaz started sloganeering and forcefully tried to go near the statue and remove a saffron flag that was put there after last night’s clashes. Police had to use force to disperse (the crowd). The clash this morning was with police, not the other community.”
Additional Director General (Law and Order) Hawa Singh Ghumaria told the area that the area is adjacent to the Eidgah and it was while dispersing, that “tension escalated and there was stone pelting. There were flags of Lord Parashuram near the area where namaz is offered. There was a dispute about removing flags. The local Muslim community puts up a flag on the occasion of Eid.”
Chief Minister Gehlot chaired a high-level meeting at his office; he also made a public appeal for peace and brotherhood. He added that the BJP was fuelling the unrest in Rajasthan, and that the riots were in fact prevented and there were no casualties. “You know what communal riots have resulted in…in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat…” adding that even on Ramnavmi when riots broke out in seven states, there was peace in Rajasthan. “They [BJP] cannot digest peace…. They have orders to create unrest.”
कल जोधपुर में जो कुछ हुआ कोई ऐसा मुद्दा नहीं था कि जहां दंगा भड़कने की स्थिति आए, ये तो हम लोगों ने दंगा कहीं होने नहीं दिया, न करौली में, न राजगढ़ में, न जोधपुर में, इसीलिए कोई कैजुअलिटी नहीं हुई, कोई बड़ी घटना नहीं हुई। pic.twitter.com/pQqyMuMjKi
— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) May 4, 2022
However, according to news reports, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat accused the ruling Congress of “doing the politics of appeasement”. He also threatened to “sit on a dharna at Jalori Gate circle if the rioters were not arrested.” He alleged that rioters “entered houses, thrashed people, pelted stones at houses and shops, damaged vehicles,” and added that “the police took no serious action after the tension last night” and that resulted in “the kind of ‘tandav’ that happened today has never happened in Jodhpur.”
कल देर रात हुआ मजहबी उपद्रव मेरे जोधपुर की तासीर नहीं है। यहां ये कृत्य स्वीकार्य नहीं।
मैं सभी अपने जोधपुरवासी भाइयों -बहनों से कहना चाहता हूं कि हमें उकसावे में नहीं आना है। #Rajasthan pic.twitter.com/Z9OMqsZa0J
— Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (@gssjodhpur) May 3, 2022
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